Ted Cruz: Cartoon of Daughters ‘Has No Place in Politics’

Sen. Ted Cruz hammered the Washington Post on Wednesday for publishing an online editorial cartoon depicting his two young daughters as dancing monkeys, telling a crowd in Tulsa that the attack "has no place in politics."

"Not too much ticks me off, but making fun of my girls, that'll do it," Cruz said in response to the cartoon, which has since been taken down.

"It used to be for a long time the rules across the board that kids are off limits," he added. "That should be the rules. Don't mess with our kids. Don't mess with my kids. Don't mess with Marco's kids. Don't mess with Hillary's kid. Don't mess with anybody's kids. Leave kids alone And if the media wants to attack and ridicule every Republican, well that's what they're gonna do. But leave our kids alone."

On Tuesday, Cruz launched an "emergency" appeal seeking to raise $1 million in 24 hours in response to the cartoon.

"My daughters are not FAIR GAME," he wrote in a fundraising email sent late Tuesday. "I'm sickened ... I knew I'd be facing attacks from day one of my campaign, but I never expected anything like this."

The cartoon — which portrayed Cruz in a Santa outfit with an organ-grinder and daughters Catherine, 4, and Caroline, 7, as monkeys — was replaced by a note from editorial page editor Fred Hiatt, explaining that it had generally been the Post's policy “to leave children out of it.”

Hiatt said: “I failed to look at this cartoon before it was published. I understand why Ann thought an exception to the policy was warranted in this case, but I do not agree.”

Telnaes was herself unapologetic, posting a link on Twitter to a parody campaign ad released by Cruz's campaign which showed him reading Christmas stories to his daughters with titles such as “How Obamacare Stole Christmas” and “Rudolph the Underemployed Reindeer.” That ad aired during the most recent episode "Saturday Night Live."

Ted Cruz has put his children in a political ad- don't start screaming when editorial cartoonists draw them as well. https://t.co/7hafBacOiK